They have good leadership above all else, and a population that is educated much better because they were allied and copied the West for a majority of their countries lifespans but even now Iran fell behind Turkey economically because of the revolution.
What do you exactly mean by uniting culture?
Well...You have valid point about Iran...Iran and Turkey adopted different statergy while dealing with West....So now, Turkey is one of the successful rich Islamic nation where as Iran is still in sanction..Let us park this debate for another day...
I am sorry, i should have said unique culture. Iran and Turkey has their own self identity apart from Islam...Because, Islam is a very generic identity for a country...I have seen in different forums, where Iranian people are being pride for their being an Iranian and their own history which is quite old...In the same way, Turkey people are very pride of their Turkik heritage and history....